Online Sales Growth

Online sales in August increased by 17.8% compared to August 2009 according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). However, the BRC do warn this was against an exceptionally weak 8% gain in August 2009.

It is believed that this increase is due to the beginning of the new school year and the introduction of new Autumn/Winter trends across retailers.

Director General of the BRC, Stephen Robertson stated “Online growth continues to lead other forms of retailing. The rise of shopping habits such a researching and reserving at home then collecting in store, which blur the distinction between traditional and electronic retailing, are increasingly contributing to online retails rapid growth.”

The IMRG assert that overall, online retail has shown consistently high levels of growth throughout the first half of 2010 and this shows a definite turn around compared to the lows of the last two years. Furthermore, the amount of money spent annually within Europe on online shopping will reach £456 billion (550 billion Euros) by the end of 2010.